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I live in Maryland, and believe I would be better off getting queens from north of me. So to those of you who have bought northern queens, who do you think is the best northern queen breeder? Whose bees are the most mite resistant, hardy, best-overwintering, etc., etc.?

And as to B. Weaver's queens, I tried three of them last year. Talk about failures! The five-frame nucs I put them into never built up very well. All of those hives are dead this year. Interestingly enough, the queens came late -- but they were marked RED!! Were they from two years ago? In fact, I noticed some of the red paint coming off. Hmmmm...

I too live in Maryland and would like to find a good northern queen breeder. Same characteristics as new guy states BUT in addition, I am particularly interested in bees that have been selected to be more productive in colder climes. There are many sources of nectar that typically come and go in this area during the early spring when it is just "too chilly" to get the bees working these sources in any numbers.

Ney Guy: Sorry to hear about B. Weaver. I've always read mostly good things about them til now and have bought satisfactory queens from them in the past.

I have been very impressed with a guy in the middle of PA. His name is Bjornbee on this site. He has an add listed in the for sale section of this website. I just recived three queens from him and they were nice and Fat! I had ten hive going into winter this past season, and only two made it, they were both hybrid russians from Bjornbee.

In general I think NWC has the characteristics you are looking for in your Northern climate.

I'm not entirely sure on the mite-resistant part but they are hardy, low on winter consumption, build up rapidly in spring, and are very gentle. They fly in cooler temps than my Italians and I think that helps contribute to their ability to take off faster in the spring.

MY NWC seem to be more hesitant to start drawing comb on plastic foundation than my Italian type bees but maybe that's not a universal trait. Once they get started there is no difference they just seem hesitant to start on it.

I do have some Carni queens that open mated with both Italian and Carni drones as seen by the dark and lighter colored workers in the hive.

They have some of both traits. Build comb more quickly than all Carnis as well as build up more quickly in the spring than Italians. It definately seems to be a balance between the two types. Maybe that is why Kona queens out of Hawaii likes to mate their Carni queens to Italian drones for the hybrid effect.

The hybrids I've raised myself seem to have the best of both worlds. They have been my best colonies.

I'd recommend trying to find a queen breeder in about the same type of climate as your climate. Rather than finding someone far to the south or far to the north, someone selecting bees suited to your climate should have queens that will produce more for you than breeders from farther away.

As far as "overwintering," I don't consider Maryland a very extreme state for overwintering. I know that opinions vary on what conditions are actually most difficult for bees to successfully overwinter, but bees capable of surviving far northern winters probably wouldn't be any better suited for your area than bees from far southern states.

I have no prefrence, but who ever you pick, make sure you find out if the breeding stock is wintered in the NORTH. Some winter the breeding stock in the south, and this is not good for obvious reasons.

newguy sezs:
And as to B. Weaver's queens, I tried three of them last year. Talk about failures! The five-frame nucs I put them into never built up very well. All of those hives are dead this year. Interestingly enough, the queens came late -- but they were marked RED!! Were they from two years ago? In fact, I noticed some of the red paint coming off. Hmmmm...

tecumseh replies:
first off newguy there is a marked difference in the physical appearances between a very new queen who has only been laying for a very short time and a fully mature queen. although what you are suggesting has definitely been done before.

all the italian queens I received from Bweaver last year were also marked red. the first batch was about a week late due to poor weather, if my memory from a year ago still holds. it is my observation that do not follow the international color code, which could be a bit more difficult when you are trying to raise multiple lines of queens. I have speculated before that paint marking removal MAY be a sign of hygenic behavior in the worker bees. one of their queens I received last year, as a matter of fact had her little paint dot removed by the time she had been laying in the nuc for 7 days.

as to breed-breeder selection I would think that an individual's micro climate and what you are trying to do with the girls should have much more to do with this decision than breeders location. although reputation is definitely a point that certainly should not be overlooked.

Kirk Webster in Middlebury VT sells queens mid summer. He breeds for mite and disease resisitance. I've heard a lot of good things about his bees, I am going to try them this year. He has an article in this months ABJ if you want to check him out.

The best queen breeder for your area is likely to be you. [img]smile.gif[/img] You can raise queens that thrive in your climate and your flows. The best stock to do that is already thriving in your climate on your flows. [img]smile.gif[/img]